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question is, Are you going to pay me back?"
    Tanis made one last effort to escape from the responsibility that now pressed about him like the tunnel's narrow walls. "I didn't ask you to save my life," he pointed out.
    The voice balanced annoyance with an equally irritating note of reasonableness. 'True, but I'm asking you to save mine. And it comes out the same in the end. Let's not quibble, Tanis. Can I count on you?" Tanis could almost hear his companion hold his breath for the answer.
    Tanis had to be honest-or as honest as he could be. If he tried to explain the whole story, the human never would believe him. "I'm here to find two people," he said. "I must find them as fast as I can, and then, after I find them, I must leave immediately. I have no choice in this. If I can protect you in the meantime, I will. You have my word."
    The gravelly tone dropped from the voice. "Good," Scowarr said. "And you can have my whole sentence." Tanis groaned.

6
    The rising tide
     
    "Some people farм. Sоме tan hides. There are tinkers, smiths, teachers, clerics, soldiers. Everybody does something. Me," said Scowarr, "I tell jokes." 'To earn your daily bread?" asked Tanis doubtfully as he inspected his broadsword for damage. The thin-framed human, whose otherwise youthful face was deeply etched with laugh lines around the eyes and mouth, did not answer. Instead, he picked at the small, smokeless campfire that burned in their seacliff wall cave. Tanis thought he had embarrassed his new friend into silence. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
    "I'm the one who's sorry," Scowarr replied mournfully. "Of all the jackanapes I could have saved today, I had to pick one who doesn't laugh at my jokes, who doesn't smile at my cleverisms, who hasn't even heard of me!"
    "Shhhl There's no telling who else is in these tunnels," said Tanis, pointing toward the last hole through which they'd crawled. Scowarr had led Tanis through a honeycomb of tunnels, depositing them in a cave that lay just north of Ankatavaka, facing west. The noon sun beat down on the sea, but the cave remained damp and chilly.
    The human glanced nervously over his shoulder, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a moment. "Don't scare me like that," he said. "I was sick once and went to a healer. I told him that I was afraid to die. He said, 'Don't worry. That's the last thing you'll do.' "
    Tanis smiled.
    'That's it?" Scowarr demanded. "One of my best' jokes, and all you can do is lift one-half of one lip?"
    Tanis hastened to conciliate the man. "I guess my thoughts are elsewhere. Sorry."
    " 'Sorry,' " Scowarr mimicked. He pouted and sat, wordless, until the moments stretched uncomfortably long. Finally, he spoke. "I was dragged from my home because of my fame as a funny man and forced to tell my jokes to this idiot army of humans." He spat out the word "humans" with sarcasm.
    "But you're a… " Tanis began, then, thinking better of it, leaned closer to inspect his sword as though he'd just found a nick in the blade.
    Scowarr continued heedlessly. " 'Entertain them,' the officer told me. 'Make them laugh; they're far from home, and their morale is low. You always make people laugh, Little Shoulders. That's what your neighbors say. Make my men laugh. Make them laugh, or I'll change your name to Broken Shoulders. Or worse.' "
    "That's why you're here?" Tanis interjected.
    Scowarr nodded. "And I've begun to think that my neighbors were trying to get rid of me."
    Tanis wasn't sure if that was a joke or not. Luckily, Scowarr didn't explode when the half-elf neglected to laugh.
    "We were just a few miles from here," Scowarr went on. "It was yesterday. There must have been three hundred soldiers sitting on a hillside while their commander waited for orders.
    " Make them laugh.” he said. 'Now.'
    " 'But it's the middle of the afternoon,' I told him. 'It's hot. They're tired. They're in a bad mood. This isn't a good time.'
    " They're hot, they're tired, and in a foul mood,' their commander